


When I First Saw You

by MelyndaR



Series: My Ingenious Family series [1]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-04
Updated: 2015-01-03
Packaged: 2018-03-05 06:56:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3110294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelyndaR/pseuds/MelyndaR
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story of how Reid met Leah at Yale.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is just the prologue, stay with me. Sorry if this seems a little confusing; it was written after some of the other stories...

April 1, 2012

On the way back on the jet from Hebron, Texas, now flying somewhere over Arkansas, Spencer Reid was in that pleasant state just before you fall asleep. His wife, Leah Prentiss-Reid, sat in the chair next to him, working on her laptop on her latest book. He could hear the music she was listening to on her MP3 player. As he drifted off to sleep he heard, "We were both young when I first saw you. I close my eyes, And the flashback starts. I'm standing there…"


	2. Chapter 2

September 30, 1998

Las Vegas, Nevada

16 year old Spencer Reid snatched the ringing phone from off its cradle as he stirred macaroni and cheese. Dinner for him and his mother.

"Reid residence."

They didn't get many phone calls at their house.

"Is Dr. Reid there?"

"Diana or Spencer?"

"Spencer."

"That's me."

"I was wondering if you'd be interested in mentoring someone here at Yale."

"Mr. Malone?" Spencer asked, using the name of a teacher at Yale.

"Yes, it's me."

"I'm not the type of person for the job. And I only showed interest in Yale, I never actually went. Yale is a long way from Las Vegas."

"I know that, but before you say no, let me expound. She's twelve."

"A girl?" Girls were a foreign species in Spencer's book.

"Yes. Don't be so narrow-minded. She was deported from Rome where she had lived in a covenant her whole life. She has no parents that we know of, although we haven't really looked into it. Her name is Leah Prentiss. She's so much like you, Dr. Reid, it's astounding. She speaks Italian over English, nearly refusing to speak the latter, but I know that she knows how. She just needs someone to break her out of her shell, and I really think you might be able to do that."

Spencer bit his lip as his mother stumbled in from the hallway, muttering about how she couldn't find her notes for her next lecture at a local college.

She hadn't taught, let alone given a lecture, in years.

He felt guilty even as the thought came to his mind, but it would be good to get away from his mother for a couple of weeks.

"I'll even pay for your round ticket. Please?" Mr. Malone synched the deal.

"I'll be there in twenty-four hours."

"Thank you."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's so short, but stay with me here.

October 1, 1998

Twelve year old Leah Prentiss called out "Entrare" when some knocked on the door of her dorm room.

It had to be her dorm advisor, Miss Peterson. Her roommates, Candy and Mackenzie, would have just barged in, as would have their many friends.


	4. Chapter 4

"I'll leave you to it then." Miss Peterson said, spinning on her heels and leaving Spencer standing outside the dorm room with virtually no hope of weaving his way back out of the city within a city that was the campus of Yale.

He felt a streak of panic, but the girl, Leah, had bid him enter, so he opened the door. She sat at a desk, a half a dozen textbooks scattered around her.

"Sì, signora?" Leah asked, her eyes flying across book pages.

Spencer cleared his throat akwardly and she spun her chair around to face him, looking at him sharply.

" _Who are you?"_

" _Spencer Reid, your, uh, mentor."_

She blinked at his Italian, probably his awful accent, and said,  _"I guess you could stay for a little bit."_

Leah motioned towards the nearest bd and he sat down on it. Then she turned back to her books. What was he supposed to do now?

They sat in silence, one he felt was very akward, for a few minutes, before he asked, " _Do you like it here_?"

Her shoulders moved in a miniscule shrug. He swallowed, his eyes searching the room for inspiration.

He looked out the window. In the distance, he saw a hill, just inside the campus.

" _Have you ever been there_?" he asked.

"I go to read sometimes."

He'd struck English! "You're bilingual?"

"I'm learning German, too."

"Then why speak only Italian?"

"How long are you going to be here?"

"Two weeks."

She sighed. "I speak Italian because it's home I guess."

"You're speaking English now."

"Your accent was hurting my ears."

He smiled. "It is pretty bad, isn't it?"

Leah smiled back. She probably wouldn't turn out to be so bad, this ebony-haired adolescent genius.

"Do you want to go up to that hill? You look like you've been in here a while." He gestured to indicate the dorm room.

She nodded. Grabbing a camera, she led the way.


	5. Chapter 5

April 1, 2012

"Spencer…" A gentle hand shook his shoulder. " _Risvegliare_."

Spencer shrugged off the hand of the person who had ordered him to wake up. " _Siamo tornati_ _a casa."_

Home. They were back home. His foggy brain managed to understand this as it cleared. He opened one eye just a slit. Leah stood over him, her curls brushing his cheek.

On impulse he bounced up and kissed her quickly.

"Ahh! Spencer!"

"That's my name," he said, heading for the doorway of the jet. "Don't wear it out."

"Sometimes I don't know who you are, one day reserved, and the next doing things like that." Leah said, following him out into the cool night air.

"I," he said quietly. "Was a mentor. I am a husband." He glanced down at her swollen abdomen. "I am a father. Quite frankly, I am one of the luckiest men I know."


End file.
